Paris (France) (AFP) – The French investigation into a vast alleged network of trafficking in women for the benefit of Mohamed Al-Fayed has reached a milestone, with a series of police custody, searches and findings at emblematic addresses in Paris and the Côte-d'Azur, including the Ritz.

Published on: 10/11/2026 - 2:14 p.m.

Asked by AFP, the Paris prosecutor's office confirmed these operations, carried out in mid-October in the palace on Place Vendôme, at the famous Villa Windsor in the Bois de Boulogne, the Al-Fayed's vacation spot, or at the Castel Sainte-Thérèse in Saint-Tropez, one of the most chic and secret villas on the Côte d'Azur.

“Police custody” took place, said the prosecution, confirming a source close to the case. The exploitation of computers, telephones and other digital media continues.

The wealthy Egyptian businessman, who died in 2023 at the age of 94, is at the heart of a resounding sexual violence scandal in the United Kingdom, but was never prosecuted during his lifetime despite numerous complaints against him.

This does not prevent the French justice system, followed by the British, from investigating the complicity from which he could have benefited to operate an international network, providing him and his brother Salah with their alleged victims.

The Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation in the summer of 2025, revealed by the AFP, for human trafficking in an organized gang, pimping and rape, after complaints from former "personal assistants".

Investigators from the Office specializing in the suppression of human trafficking (Ocrteh) have since been trying to shed light on this alleged network which also extends to France.

On both sides of the Channel, several women have already claimed to have been attacked in various properties of the billionaire, including the Ritz, where Al-Fayed had offices. The hotel is also one of the places where the British Home Office admitted that at least one complainant had been a victim of trafficking.

Villa Windsor is also cited by victims as an address for alleged attacks. This historic building, a British royal residence, was then renovated and occupied by Mohamed Al-Fayed, who would have wanted to house Diana and her son Dodi there.

New complainants

According to sources interviewed by AFP, French investigators have already heard from at least five complainants - the last in October. Some hesitated for a long time, because of their trauma or out of fear. Others could join them.

“We discovered, astounded, the extent of the actions of Mohamed and Salah Al Fayed,” the lawyers of several of them, Caroline Joly, Eva Joly and Agathe Barril, responded to AFP, praising the “courage” of the victims who testify.

These “testimonies reveal an organization in which their immense personal fortune and their businesses would have been mobilized in the service of their sexual predation: a machinery designed with coldness and meticulousness,” they added.

To investigators, the complainants described a system: recruitment of young women hoping for a professional future at Harrods, the London luxury store, or as assistants, accompanied by unjustified gynecological examinations, leading to front jobs, which would have made it possible to make them available to the Al-Fayed. Some told AFP they thought they had been drugged.

Who performed these medical examinations? Who organized the women's transport? Who validated the salaries? The investigation continues under the authority of the public prosecutor's office: no indictment has therefore been issued.

“Trafficking is impossible to carry out without a group of very organized individuals,” reacted on condition of anonymity a complainant, a former employee of the Ritz, transported between France and the United Kingdom.

The work of the French investigators "impresses us a lot" in contrast with the British investigation, which is limited to "beating around the bush" thirty years after the first complaints, she laments to AFP.

“Cooperate fully”

The London police are criticized by many complainants for their slowness in taking stock of the alleged facts, their systemic nature, and in investigating accordingly. French and British are now exchanging views and the latter have witnessed recent operations in France, according to the prosecution.

The Metropolitan Police had received, in mid-October, 163 reports of sexual assault, rape, or acts of sexual exploitation linked to Mohamed Al-Fayed. Women have claimed they were attacked at Harrods, Fulham Football Club, and other of his properties and private jets.

In London, seven people suspected of having facilitated his actions were questioned, but none charged.

When asked, the Ritz told AFP that it did not tolerate “any form of harassment, abuse or inappropriate behavior” and was ready “to cooperate fully with the competent judicial authorities”.

© 2026 AFP

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